The Privacy Collective has filed a lawsuit against AppLovin, claiming the adtech giant collected and traded millions of users personal data without consent.
AppLovin is facing a class action lawsuit on behalf of Dutch users, brought forward by advocacy group, The Privacy Collective.
Supported by Amnesty International, the case alleges the US-based adtech unlawfully collected and traded millions of users’ personal data through hidden tracking software within popular mobile games and apps such as CapCut, Vinted and Subway Surfers.
The Privacy Collective has claimed AppLovin secretly collected and traded data from an estimated 8.5 million Dutch people, including 1.5 million children. The data is allegedly then shared with hundreds of third-party companies, who create a detailed user profile, which in turn is used by the company to sell advertising space.
Dagmar Oudshoorn, director of Amnesty International Netherlands, said: “Because children are now tracked at an increasingly young age, it makes them uniquely vulnerable to economic exploitation.
“This lawsuit has a clear goal, namely to protect and strengthen fundamental rights such as privacy, autonomy and human dignity. The digital advertising and tracking industry is violating these rights structurally and on a large scale. It is unacceptable that this business model operates at the expense of citizens, and particularly at the expense of minors.”
According to The Privacy Collective, users are not informed of the extent of the tracking, and the software is deliberately designed to collect as much data as possible, even if users indicate they do not wish to be tracked.
Strict legislation in the EU dictates how data can be collected and stored, as well as the types of permissions needed to do so. This lawsuit accuses AppLovin of tracking users before they give consent, meaning it does not follow the principle of data minimisation, and therefore it is in breach of GDPR.
Figures from AppLovin’s Q1 2026 earnings report revealed the adtech took home $1.84bn in revenue, up by 59% when compared to the same period the previous year.
The NL Times reported that The Privacy Collective is seeking €500 in compensation for every adult affected and €1,500 per child. If successful, AppLovin could be face paying billions of euros in damages.
The lawsuit could set a precedent beyond just the Netherlands with adtech giants facing closer scrutiny on advertising practices across the continent.
